Under the Shelter of His Wings

Monday, February 11, 2013

It used to be "CountyLifeintheCity.blogspot.com" but while I was talking to Pam author of Where Your Treasure Is I realized that I misspelled Country (I forgot to put in the r) Well when I went to go fix it, I found out that the correct spelling "Country Life in the City" was already taken :( So hence the new blog name: My Little Backyard FarmI hope to see you there!

Several weeks later (thanks to an adorable son and bitter cold weather) my "Hunter Green" wheelbarrow!!

I am very happy with the finished product. But there are many lessons I learned.

1st. If you are going to buy a fixer upper, make sure you will not spend more fixing the "cheap" one up then buying a BRAND NEW ONE! Between two cans of spray paint, one spray can of finisher, linseed oil, sandpaper, and bolts/screws it was VERY difficult not to go over the price of a nice new one. One of the largest expenses was the new bolts and screws. I ended up being able to save half of the old ones but I spend so much time sanding, soaking in rust remover, sanding again and spraying with anti rust. This was hardly a deal.

2nd. relates to first, if you buy a rust bucket "for now" DO NOT fix it up. Uses "as is" until it falls apart or until you can find a nicer "fixer upper".

3rd. Don't start a project that you cannot finish "quickly". You will lose momentum!!! This should have been a two maybe three day project but with it taking a couple of weeks I was rather resentful, which is not a good place to be. so before starting a project make sure you can finish it up in a timely many with enthusiasm intact!

While in the mist of this project I went to a yard sale and bought some uses (but good condition) yard tools for 25 cents a piece!!! I felt like I was getting away with highway robbery. I am in the process of sanding down the metal parts and using the same "hunter green" spray paint for the metal and sanding down and oiling the wood. (they had painted the purrty wood)

Friday, January 4, 2013

Now that I have a backyard, I can have a garden and a compost, which means... manure!!!! Which means I need a wheelbarrow. I really did not feel like spending $40 to $140 on a wheelbarrow, so I have been watching craigslist and after a couple misses of free ones, I saw one for $5!

This one is VERY rusted inside the tub (which these pictures do not show) but I wanted to refurbish it anyway. And this is part of my Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and keeping in the budget!

With help from Mario's power tools I completely took it apart. Not one bolt remained in place. One of the bolts was terrible stripped and Mario had to use his big strong muscle to get it out. I sanded down the tub inside and out.

The wood is very dried out, I sanded it down and sanded it (received some nasty sprinters) and sanded it again. Then I applied a coat of Linseed Oil and another and another. and sanded again... When I received the splinters my daughter Elizabeth who is 3 1/2 and tells me "Mommy, you should of been more careful and wear gloves!"

I will be sanding down the tub and metal parts again when it is warm enough to go outside (its been the 30's). and painting it... more pictures to come when the weathers warms (it has to be in the 50's to paint).

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mario made me the gift of "my garden" for Mother's Day. Among my treasured plants that he gave me, were my strawberries. I simply love them. My container of strawberries had many blossoms and a couple suckers! I knew I needed to transplant them right away for they were over crowded in their current pot, so I have been reading up on the best way to do so. I found out some hard news... I need to pinch off the blossoms :( My breed of strawberries is Evergreen (deceiving name for they produce fruit twice annually) must be pinched off for the first transplant so they can focus on becoming firmly rooted and then I will receive beautiful delicious berries twice annually hence forth! My heart ached as I pinched off all seven blossoms.snuff, snuff.

I am now soaking the suckers in water before transplanting them. It is great joy to have my hands in all that wonderful soil and planting.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Elizabeth and Marie told me about this amazing man Glenn Doman, who is the founder or Gentle Revolution, and oh my goodness, it has set me off on such a reading spree.

As a side note Glenn talks about how our children can be a gluten for knowledge and how we must restrain from letting them indulge too much. Well, I should have taken his advice for myself. I have not stopped reading his works or others people experiences. Now my head HURTS! I have learned so much and I have a real good idea about how I want to go about teaching toddler Elizabeth. But, all the same I should have taken Glenn's advise more to heart, I have taken so many Advil :) Even with this acknowledgement I still want to study about his methods more!

This website below sells flash cards, but the reason I put it here is because of the wonderful long lists it has (on the left side, under "Hot Articles". I am going through these lists to add to the breath of my own.http://domanflashcards.com

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I have always been afraid to attempt to make cheese cake. It always seemed like some unachievable thing that only chefs and perfect women could make, but low and behold… its not! I found a great receipt online for Chocolate chip and Hazelnut Cheese Cake. Now grant it, it took FOUR trips to different stores and two days to make but I did IT! And even if I say so myself (which one should not do) it tasted great! I do not have the correct type of pan so I used pie pans and it worked out wonderfully because since pie pans are much more shallow I made to cakes instead of one J

It took two attempts at different stores but I was able to find "fresh" hazelnuts. I cut them into fourths and them chopped away, toasted them in the oven under boil and them "chopped" them in the food blender.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

While visiting with Grandma Waunetta, Elizabeth found a new favorite... lotion.

It took a couple of (corrections) but she learned that lotion is for the face and hands, NOT for eating :P

Only this last week or so have we been able to put her hair into pony tails. You can find these great snag free colorful rubber bands at the dollar store, you get 500 for .99, which is good because it is very unlikely that you will ever use one more than once because they stretch too much OR the disappear...

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Today the weather with wind chill is 28 below and a light blowing snow.

My dear family is snuggled in their beds napping the afternoon away and I sit here drinking my cup of coffee. I feel like I should like tea more then coffee but alas, coffee wins. It is my comfort drink of choose, most of the time. I love this cup with yellow roses, it makes me happy.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Yesterday we had frozen cars and water pipes. With wind chill it was 30 degrees BELOW freezing.

I keep the water pipes dripping at night time when it gets to cold but for some reason I never thought to leave them on in the daytime... opps. It was the facet in the bath tub that froze, thankfully Mario was able to unfreeze the pipe before any damage was done.

And I know that when it gets too cold out (30 Below is too cold) that I should go out and start up my car to keep the cold from killing my car. Well, I thought about it a couple times but never actually went outside to do that and in the morning when I was going to go to the doctor for a annual check up...

yeah you guest it, the car would not turn on. :( Once again Mario was able to fix it, but I felt so silly for not taking the precaution like I knew I should of.

About Me

I have heard that people think angels are little chubby babies on clouds, no, this picture come much closer to describing the warrior of God we call angels. I can hardly think of one place in the Bible that when an angle appears that he does not say "do not be afraid"... that should be a hint.